Edwabd scheppeks



To all whom it may concern.-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD SCHEPBERS AND EMILE SGHEPPERS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PA.

ART OF MAKlNG FABRICS FROM COARSE LONG-STAPLE WOQL R HAIR.

' SPECIZEICA'I'ION forming part of Letters Patent No. 362,317, dated May3, 1887.

Application filed May 5, 1884. Serial No. 130,452. (No specimens.)Patented in England October 7, 1884, No. 12,274 in France October 7,1884, No. 164,648, and in Belgium October 7, 1884, No. 66,523.

Be it known that we, EDWARD Sonnrrnas and EMILE Sonnrrnns, subjects ofthe King of Belgium, and residents of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain Improvements in the Art of Making Fabrics from CoarseLong-Staple Wool or Hair, (for which we have obtained British Patent No.13,274, French Patent No. 164,648, and Belgian Patent No. 66,523, alldated October 7, 1884,) of which the following is a specification.

The object of our invention is to produce a fine fabric from coarselong-staple wool or hair, and this object we attain in the manner ufully described and claimed hereinafter.

Hitherto it has been considered impracticable to use for the warp in themanufacture of fine fabrics coarse long-fiber or long-staple combedwool-such, for instance, as that known as English blood the same objec-,tion applying to long-staple goat-hair, alpaca,

camel-hair, 860. What we mean by longstaple wool or hair is a fiber longenough to be combed. The reason why such wool or hair is unavailable forthe production of fine goods is that the fibers will not lie closelywhen they are spun, but project from the surface of the strand and catchagainst the bars of the reed when the strands are used as warp-threadsin a loom, thus subjecting the strands to excessive strain and weakeningthem by abrasion; hence, if the wool or hair is spun as fine as it canbe, it will not possess strength enough to stand the strain to which thewarp in a loom is subjected, and it has been the practice to spin itcoarse, or to double thethreads if spun fine, in both of which'CELSGSliJhG fabric produced was coarse and heavy.

In carrying out our invention we take the fine spun threads of wool orhair and twist them with threads of cotton or other vegetable fiber, andthen use these compound threads in the production of a worsted fabric byweaving, using for both warp and filling, or for warp alone with anall-worsted filling, as the strength is mainly desired in the warp. Thefabric is then subjected to a chemical treatment, whereby the vegetablefiber is destroyed For instance, the fabric may be subjected to theaction of sulphuric acid, which will attack and destroy the vegetablefiber without affecting the wool, thus leaving a fabric composed whollyof the fine worsted threads. The cotton strand serves not only to addstrength to the fine wool strand, but it also performs the importantduty of confining at their bases the fibers which project from said woolstrand, and thus prevents said fibers from being loosened and torn fromthe strand when they are caught by the bars of the reed, the rapidabrasion and weakening of the said wool strand, such as usually resultsfrom the catching of these projecting fibers, being effectuallyovercome.

\Ve are aware that the use of combined cotton and wool threads has longbeen known in the production of mixed fabrics, and that the use ofsulphuric acid for the purpose of recovering wool from waste containingboth wool and cotton is also old; hence we claim neither of these thingsseparately considered, but only as steps in the carrying out of thecomplete process forming the subject of our invention.

It has also been proposed to spin togethercotton and shortstaple wool toform a mixed strand, from which the cotton was eliminated after thestrand had been woven into a fabric; but the long-staple wool or hairwhich we use is not susceptible of being spun with cotton, but mustfirst be spun into a strand and then doubled with a strand of cotton.Moreover, cotton combined with short-staple wool does not perform animportant function of the cotton thread in our compound strand-namely,

"the confining of the bases of the projecting fibers of the wool strand,so as to overcome the-objection which has hitherto prevented the use inweaving of fine strands made from coarse long-staple wool or itsequivalent, as hereinbefore setforth.

We therefore claim as our invention- The mode herein described ofproducing fine fabrics from coarse long-staple wool or hair, said modeconsisting in first spinning a fine strand of such wool or hair, thendoubling and twisting it with a strand of cotton or other names to ihisspecification in the presence of vegetable fiber, then producing a.fabric contwo subscribing witnesses. tainin such compound thread andfinally snbjec zing said fabric to 1; e acbioil of an agent 5 which willdestroy the veg table fiber, leaving J the animal fiber intact,

l substantially as Witnesses: specified. r

: J OHN M. CLAYTON, In testimony whereof w have signed our HARRY SMITH.

